The air is thick with the stench of ozone and blood.
Su Chen stands at the edge of the ruined temple, his coat whipping violently in the storm winds tearing across the mountainside. The final rays of the sun split the clouds like a warning—divine light piercing through the chaos of mortal wrath. Beneath his boots, ancient runes glow faintly, etched into the cracked marble altar. Around him, bodies of the Divine Circle's executioners lie twisted and broken, steam rising from their open wounds.
He doesn't breathe heavily.
He doesn't shake.
He doesn't blink.
The system purrs inside his skull like a predator satisfied with its hunt.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Host has eliminated all Ranked Priests of the Divine Circle. Corruption Index decreased by 17%. Public Reverence dropped: -89 points. Infamy increased: +254 points.]
[New Title Unlocked: "Apostate of Flame"]
[Perk Gained: Purging Benediction – All holy-based skills deal reverse damage to their caster. Holy zones become null zones in your presence.]
Su Chen's lips curl upward, but it's not a smile. It's the ghost of something once human. He lifts his hand, fingers twitching with residual energy from the soul-burn technique he'd hijacked moments earlier. "They really thought prayers would save them."
Behind him, a soft grunt.
He doesn't turn.
"I told you not to follow me," he says, voice low, edged with warning.
But Rika steps into the light anyway, robes torn, eyes wide and wet. "They were my family…"
He finally turns. Her face is half-covered in soot, and there's a burn mark seared into her shoulder in the shape of a glyph. Not his doing. Divine punishment.
"I spared you," Su Chen says simply. "That was a mistake."
She falls to her knees, gripping the hem of his coat. "You don't have to become this. You're more than—"
"No." His voice slices through her words. "I'm not. That man died in the same fire you lit with them. Remember?" He leans down, his face inches from hers. "You watched. You smiled."
Her expression twists, guilt carving through her like a blade. "I didn't know what they were doing. I didn't want—"
"I don't care what you wanted." He pulls her up by the throat, one hand, effortless. "They loved me. You loved me. So now—"
[Quest Progress: "Kill Everyone Who Loved Me" – 88% Complete]
He lets her drop. She coughs violently, gasping for breath, clutching her throat.
"Not yet," he mutters. "You'll die when it hurts."
Later, high above the temple ruins, Su Chen watches the horizon. The sky is breaking open—ribbons of violet light unraveling as something else wakes in the world.
[WARNING: System Interference Detected.]
[Foreign Program Detected: ORACLE PROTOCOL – Origin: Celestial Vault]
[Requesting Access…]
[ACCESS GRANTED.]
Suddenly, the voice isn't the one he's used to. It's colder. Female. Not mechanical. Not warm.
"Su Chen, heir of ruin. You have attracted the Eyes of the High Vault. Your actions distort fate and slaughter destinies."
He narrows his gaze. "Another voice trying to tame me?"
"No. I am not here to tame you."
"Then what?"
"I am here to watch the end."
Something pulses in his chest. Not fear. Not anger. But the feeling that every god in the sky just turned their gaze toward him—and smiled.
In the deepest depths of the ruined cities, where data ghosts whisper between broken servers, a new name lights up black markets and bounty boards:
THE APOSTATE OF FLAME
Alive: 8.9 Billion Credits
Dead: N/A
And beneath it, in blood-red:
"Do not approach. He kills those you love… and makes you love him before he does."
End of Chapter 55